Who else knows about your love life?E-MAILS EXPOSED: Simon Walker and Nick Willis advise firms to review policiesAll publicity is good publicity...

except when it is the wrong kind of publicity.

Being in a position where the press are watching as to whether you do or do not take disciplinary action against staff abusing e-mail and Internet access is the wrong kind of publicity.

Given recent exposs, it may be time employers looked again at the manner in which their systems and facilities are used and their policies for such use.When implementing or reviewing your policy, the key principles are that you will want to prevent staff from harming your interests, by creating vicarious liability or negative publicity, and from engaging in unapproved activities which may detract from the good conduct and profitability of your business.

The following may be worth considering if you have not already done so:l Introduce a policy for business and internal communications which applies to the sending ofe-mails as they are likely to be treated as communications from the employer.l Be aware of the informal nature of e-mail and the Internet when communicating with external parties - user-IDs and passwords do not guarantee privacy.

Importantly, remind employees not to disclose unauthorised information and data that is restricted, confidential or personal.l If employees are allowed the discretion to use e-mail and the Internet for personal purposes, ensure that your employees know the parameters and consequences for use/misuse.

How will you police this?l It may be time to remind employees what may be deemed illegal, offensive or have adverse repercussions for the business.

Contents of e-mails will be admissible in a court of law - observing simple safeguards and procedures (such as keeping copies, including confidentiality statements etc) could prevent you from being exposed to unintentional contractual obligations, actions for inaccurate statements or misrepresentations (which may also be defamatory) and even criminal liability.l Ensure you have appropriate disclaimers and templates and consider Law Society guidelines.l Remind employees that e-mails may be misdirected or forwarded without the sender's knowledge.

Simply using the no copy function when sending sensitive e-mails may be a start.l Instigate procedures to block activities such as newsgroup participation, downloading and access to certain Web sites.l If you are going to monitor use of e-mail and Internet by employees, make sure you have informed or sought (and obtained) the employee's consent for such monitoring.

l Ensure that employees are aware of and understand your policies, that you apply them consistently and that your disciplinary procedure provides that serious breaches of e-mail and Internet policies are examples of gross misconduct.Simon Walker is a partner and head of e-business and Nick Willis an employment partner at Landwell in the UK